Third Places

Is the narrative off a little bit here?

I guess we should start by offering up some definitions:

The term “third place” was coined by the urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book, “The Great Good Place.” It refers to spaces outside of home and work (one’s first and second places) where friends and strangers can gather unrushed — like cafes, bars, hair salons, dog parks and gyms. In some conceptions, the term refers to places where you don’t have to buy anything to hang out.

Back around March/April 2025, there were a ton of articles about third places. Most of these articles bemoan the idea that we have less third places and thus, less community. Broadly I agree with the idea of “third places” equating as “good,” but I do think a little bit of the narrative is off here. Let’s just look at a few things quickly.

Work Intrudes

Semantically, there often isn’t such a thing as a “third place” because work creeps into crevices and will become what you do in a park or at a coffee shop. However, as we’re currently entering into our AI/layoffs phase of capitalism, I could see a resurgence of “third places,” especially free third places (think parks), because people need a place to be and enjoy and maybe meet up during the day as they wonder why the entire promise of the white-collar economy has collapsed in a matter of about 15 years.

The COVID Aftereffects

A few important things happened during COVID, IMHO: